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In the year when Lamplugh obtained license (1833) L. Kittenger ran a line of stages between Darby and Philadelphia, which left the Cross-Keys on Fourth Street in the latter city daily at 9 o'clock A.M. and 5 P.M., while the schedule time of departure from Lamplugh's tavern was 7 1/2 A.M. and 5 P.M. In December of the same year, J. Tomlinson having purchased the line from Kittenger, placed on the route a large omnibus, the "William Penn," which, when it first rumbled into Darby drawn by four black horses, awakened the then quiet village to an unusual degree of excitement. In 1836 William Russell had license for the house, and the ancient and noted inn took again its time-honored title in full. In 1837, after Tomlinson sold his stage route to John Smith, Cameron & Keogh started an opposition line of omnibuses between Philadelphia and Darby, making their headquarters at Russell's house. The rivalry between the two inns and stage lines continued, and the enterprise apparently not proving remunerative to Cameron & Keogh, the latter disposed of their business to Evan S. Russell, a son of the tavern-keeper, who continued the stages as the "Express Line of Omnibuses," while to add to the attraction at his house, William Russell ran in addition "a safe and easy carriage and two horses from his house in Darby." |
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